“IT’S A good day,” Evan Ferguson told the post-match interviewer in typically understated fashion, after his heroics at the weekend.
Amid Brighton’s 3-1 victory over Newcastle, the Irish international became just the fourth teenager in Premier League history to score a hat-trick, after Michael Owen (3), Robbie Fowler and the late Chris Bart-Williams.
He is also just the fourth Irish player to achieve the feat. Before Ferguson, Jon Walters was the most recent player to do it in January 2015 against QPR, while he is joined on the list by Leon Best, who hit a hat-trick in his first Premier League start for Newcastle against West Ham in January 2011, while Robbie Keane also hit hat-tricks on three separate occasions in his Spurs career against Everton (January 2003), Wolves (December 2003) and Burnley (September 2009).
And as Brighton pointed out on their official website, Ferguson is just the second non-English player to reach 10 Premier League goal involvements aged 18 or under after former Arsenal star Cesc Fabregas.
It is just the latest in a long list of achievements that have been part of Ferguson’s prodigious rise.
From lining out for Bohemians at 14 in a pre-season friendly against Chelsea to making his Brighton debut at 16, scoring on his full Ireland debut against Latvia and registering his first Premier League goal versus Arsenal last December.
Often, the very top players are late developers. For example, Harry Kane and Declan Rice were let go by Arsenal and Chelsea as youngsters.
Yet Ferguson is that rare enough example of a player who has risen steadily without any significant setbacks, nor has he had any really serious injuries as of yet.
“Whenever we played in a cup semi-final or a cup final or big league game, you knew you had a goal, you knew he was scoring. ‘Evan’s going to score today,’ that kind of thing,” Karl Lambe, his coach at St Kevin’s Boys, told The42 earlier this year.
“I moved house recently and there was a newspaper clipping I lost from when we were at U8s. And he scored four goals away to Mount Merrion and the headline was ‘Evan sent for Kevin’s’.
“This is from April 2012. So you’re talking 11 years ago nearly now and the journalist starts with ‘remember the name, Evan Ferguson.’”
Even during his Bohemians days, Liverpool and other more high-profile clubs than Brighton were courting Ferguson.
Last year, the Meath native explained why he chose the Seagulls amid a host of attractive options.
”It came down to the fact that if you come to Brighton there’s a pathway through,” he told reporters.
“If you go to a team such as a Liverpool, then they can buy a striker for €60 million to €70 million.
“At Brighton, they like to bring their academy players through and give them a chance. I’d say that was the reason, looking long term rather than short term.
“There were a few Irish lads here before I moved over — there was Jayson Molumby, Warren O’Hora and a few of the younger boys like Andrew Moran, Leigh Kavanagh and James Furlong.
“I knew them from back home. So you see a pathway, I was thinking that there’s obviously something good happening at Brighton and that was what led me here.”
The decision was clearly a wise one. Now, Ferguson has placed himself in a position where he could be one of those strikers coming into an elite Premier League club for big money.
Last month, Sky Sports reporter Melissa Reddy tweeted that Brighton “believe they already have the next British record transfer brewing in Evan Ferguson”.
The club have already overseen one record-breaking deal, with Moises Caicedo’s £115 million (€143 million) move to Chelsea earlier in the summer.
There have been mixed signals from the Seagulls in this regard with CEO Paul Barber recently suggesting the club hope to keep hold of their prized asset for “at least five years”.
However, if Ferguson can maintain the level of performance he demonstrated on Saturday, then that prospect is surely unrealistic.
What’s perhaps most refreshing though is that for all the talk, very little of it is coming from Ferguson.
He is active on social media, but his presence there could be described as low-key.
His sporadic tweets tend to be very general and bland. Examples include “What a day first premier league hat trick,” “First game of the season done, we are back,” and “Good to be home”.
His interviews tend to be similarly unmemorable.
When talking to a group of journalists in the mixed zone after an Ireland game earlier this year in which he had clearly pushed himself to the limit physically, Ferguson came across a tired young kid somewhat bored by the predictable questions coming his way, more eager to get home for a good night’s sleep rather than basking in the glory of another landmark moment.
And this impression is backed up by anyone who has worked with him. One of the first things usually mentioned is his impressive temperament.
It was perhaps summarised by Barber in less headline-worthy quotes from the aforementioned interview.
“For me, having seen a lot of footballers over the last 27 years including some of the world’s most iconic players when I worked with England, and seeing how they conducted themselves, and now measuring Evan with, say, a (David) Beckham.
“I’m not comparing the two as players but as people. The one thing always struck me about David is no matter how many accolades and headlines, his work ethic, humility and ability to connect with people never left him. Evan’s got all those. He’s so engaging, so warm-spirited, so kind.
“Liam Brady is one of my neighbours in Hove, knows the Ferguson family very well and talks very, very well of them. I’d like to think the Academy environment we have and the type of club we are has helped during Evan’s development to reinforce those family values.”
It’s tempting too to compare Ferguson with another exciting young Irish athlete thriving on an international stage.
“She’s a laid-back character,” Pierce O’Callaghan recently told The42 in a profile of Rhasidat Adeleke. “And you’ll notice that most of the athletes who actually make it to the top are laid back and that disguises a fierce determination and resilience within her.”
Ferguson is also an individual who seldom seems fazed by the substantial pressure on his shoulders.
And it is that mentality that separates the Bettystown teenager from the many millions across the world who dream in vain of emulating his achievements and becoming a Premier League star.